Digital Storytelling and Digital Storytelling and learning.learning.

Malcolm RobertsGraduate Diploma of Information Technology in EducationWaikato Institute of TechnologyHamilton

How can digital storytelling How can digital storytelling be justified for education?be justified for education?The growth in applications: both web

2.0 based (youtube etc…) and computer based (Moviemaker and I-Movie) represents a new challenge for teachers.

Students are able to mix digital images, movies, sound and text easily. The challenge for teachers is to use this to creatively in the classroom.

Connectivity and Connectivity and CommunicationCommunicationWith the advent of web 2.0 applications

students are able to easily upload/publish videos and photos to sharing sites on the internet.

The audience can be from the students family (in a pass worded LMS) to millions of viewers on youtube/teachertube.

Digital videos/photo slide shows are easily posted/emailed to other people.

Easily stored in an e-Portfolio

Digital StoriesDigital Stories Allow learning environments in which learners can be creative, critical, constructive and become producers (publishers) of their own perspectives informed by audience and identity.

Toward a Local Ecology of Toward a Local Ecology of Knowledge Production Knowledge Production with ICTs with ICTs knowledge can now be produced

by the students through making their own web-pages, blogs, wikis, small film segments, and so on…the old experts are no long needed. (Michael Lewis example)

• classroom is now more linked into the outside world….

Robertson, Susan L., ‘Aliens in the Classroom 2: When Technology Meets Classroom Life’, published by the Centre for Globalisation, Education and Societies, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 1JA, UK at: http://www.bris.ac.uk/education/people/academicStaff/edslr/publications/13slr/

Children can become Children can become Knowledge Producers instead of Knowledge Producers instead of Knowledge Consumers.Knowledge Consumers.

Digital Stories can be used by children to document and understand their local community.

Clarify their understandings.Work as a team to document a local

event or history.Produce knowledge about themselves

and their immediate surroundings.

Joe Lambert’s view Joe Lambert’s view http://www.storycenter.orghttp://www.storycenter.org

Children operate in age 6-10 in a mythical environment.

The students could draw their own pictures (on the computer or photos of their drawings) of an imaginative story.

Document a struggle or a learning experience they have been through.

Either individually or as a group

Joe Lambert’s viewJoe Lambert’s viewReflect on their learning

journeys.Photos taken during a problem

solving situation.Can be used in conjunction with

inquiry learning to document their inquiry journey.

Using multmedia to express themselves.

Jason Ohler Jason Ohler http://www.jasonohler.com/http://www.jasonohler.com/

The Digital Age has produced the Storytelling Age.We have shifted from the consumption based

storytelling culture of the age of floor top media to a culture that listens AND tells stories. Studies are emerging that show that well over half of the teenagers who use the Internet are using it, among other things, to share original digital creations.

The era of mass-customized media-based storytelling has finally come of age. (eg Youtube)We can now tell stories in our own language, in our own way that we can distribute using our own at-home equipment.

The Digital Age is the Storytelling Age... we all get to tell our stories in our own way on the great stage of the Internet...

Helen Barrett Helen Barrett http://electronicportfolios.org/http://electronicportfolios.org/

LegacyDigital stories can provide us

with an opportunity to leave a legacy of our family stories for those who come after us.

Legacy stories are usually told about a person or place.

Helen BarrettHelen BarrettBiographyA biography provides the facts

about a life, whether of the storyteller or another person.

Helen BarrettHelen BarrettMemoirWhereas a legacy story is told for or

about another person or place, a memoir is very personal, told in the first person, focusing on the memories of the storyteller. Memoirs are autobiographical in nature, but are much more personal and reflective. They are usually much longer than a typical digital story.

Helen BarrettHelen BarrettReflection Reflection is the “heart and soul” of a portfolio. Digital

storytelling is a highly motivating strategy that can make reflection concrete and visible. Some definitions of reflection:

Careful thought, especially the process of reconsidering previous actions, events, or decisions; an idea or thought, especially one produced by careful consideration of something.

One of the defining characteristics of surface learning is that it does not involve reflection.

Reflection is an active process of witnessing one’s own experience in order to take a closer look at it, sometimes to direct attention to it briefly, but often to explore it in greater depth.

Reflection is what allows us to learn from our experiences: it is an assessment of where we have been and where we want to go next.

Reflection is a vital part of learning.

Helen BarrettHelen BarrettTransitionSome learners reflect on the

major changes or transitions in their lives. Reflection can help us make sense of these changes. Telling digital stories could also help the transition to retirement or any other major life change.

Helen BarrettHelen BarrettDecision & DirectionDigital stories can be used to

either weigh the options in a decision to be made, or document the decision-making process. Stories can help us shape our direction or our preferred future.

Helen BarrettHelen BarrettChange over timeAn important element of an electronic

portfolio is to maintain a collection of work over time, so that the learner can recognize when growth and change has occurred. Children often forget what it is like not to know how to do something. By seeing earlier work, they can reflect on the changes they see in their own performance. The recognition of this change has the potential to increase students’ self esteem.

Helen BarrettHelen BarrettArtifactsThe story types described above are

constructed as part of the portfolio development process of reflection. The initial phase of portfolio development is the collection of artifacts, or pieces of work that are created in the course of ordinary school work or professional experience.

These artifacts in electronic portfolios often take the form of text or images; a digital video clip adds another dimension to this collection.

 

Helen BarrettHelen Barrett

Evidence of CollaborationMuch of the work in both schools

and the workplace is the result of collaboration. To document the results of team efforts, a digital story could explain each person's role in the process.

 

Helen BarrettHelen BarrettRecord of Experience In many learning activities, such as a field

experience in teacher education, there may not be a concrete product that can be represented in a discrete artifact.

A digital story could be used to reflect on and document an experience in a format much richer than just text and images. A digital story could provide the final evidence of a project-based learning activity, especially if digital pictures are captured as part of the experience.

As John Dewey said, “We don’t learn from experience; we learn from reflecting on experience.”

Helen BarrettHelen BarrettOral LanguageWhether for students learning to speak in a

second language, or early childhood students learning to read in their native language, recordings of speaking and reading aloud have often been been documented through either tape recording or live presentation before an assessor.

A digital story could provide another approach that allows learners to record their voice, speaking or reading out loud at different stages of development, demonstrating growth over time. A "podcast" could be an audio-only digital story without the visual components.

Helen BarrettHelen Barrett

DocumentaryA digital video can take the place

of a research paper or PowerPoint presentation.

These stories take on the characteristics of a documentary, often fact-based without emotional content.

Joe Lambert Joe Lambert ePortfolios and D.S. ePortfolios and D.S.Looking back: reflectionAssessing your progress: self evaluation

What you didSo What: what did I learn?

E-Portfolios and Digital E-Portfolios and Digital StoriesStoriesA snapshot of educational progressProgressChallengesAchievementsSelf Assessment

Personalised Learning

Personalised Assessment

e-Portfoliose-Portfolios

Learning, teaching and assessment – supporting the process of learning through reflection, discussion and formative assessment, and providing evidence for summative assessment

Digital Storytelling and Digital Storytelling and assessmentassessmentSuccinctEntertainingEffectiveEmotionally engagingEvidence

More deeper learning engagement than tests….

Links the New Zealand Links the New Zealand CurriculumCurriculumThe New Zealand Curriculum

identifies five key competencies: thinkingusing language, symbols, and

textsmanaging selfrelating to othersparticipating and contributing.

I’ve been thinking…..I’ve been thinking….."Thinking is about using creative, critical, and metacognitive processes to make sense of information, experiences, and ideas. These processes can be applied to purposes such as developing understanding, making decisions, shaping actions, or constructing knowledge. Intellectual curiosity is at the heart of this competency.“ NZ curriculum

Digital storytelling and Digital storytelling and inquiryinquiry"Students who are competent thinkers and problem-solvers actively seek, use, and create knowledge. They reflect on their own learning, draw on personal knowledge and intuitions, ask questions, and challenge the basis of assumptions and perceptions.“ NZ curriculum.

ThinkingThinkingDigital Storytelling can be used for

reflection.Digital Storytelling can be used to

document the problem solving/inquiry process.

Thinking is about using creative, critical, and metacognitive processes to make sense of information, experiences, and ideas. These processes can be applied to purposes such as developing understanding, making decisions, shaping actions, or constructing knowledge.

Language, symbols and Language, symbols and textstextsDigital Storytelling is a rich language

process.Language, symbols and texts are the main

components of digital storytelling.Languages and symbols are systems for

representing and communicating information, experiences, and ideas

Students who are competent users of language, symbols, and texts can interpret and use words, number, images, movement, metaphor, and technologies in a range of contexts.

Managing selfManaging selfThis competency is associated with self-

motivation, a “can-do” attitude, and with students seeing themselves as capable learners.

It is integral to self-assessment. Learners are able to produce an

authentic digital story about themselves.

Considerable planning, organisation, resource gathering and implementation is needed for an effective digital story.

Relating to othersRelating to othersRelating to others is about

interacting effectively with a diverse range of people in a variety of contexts.

This competency includes the ability to listen actively, recognise different points of view, negotiate, and share ideas.

A good digital story is about yourself and your relationships with others.

Participating and Participating and contributingcontributingThis competency is about being

actively involved in communities. Communities include family, whānau, and school and those based, for example, on a common interest or culture.

They may be drawn together for purposes such as learning, work, celebration, or recreation. They may be local, national, or global.

Constructing local knowledge.

Students learn best when:Students learn best when:They are in a supportive learning

environment Reflective thought and action is encouraged The relevance of new learning is enhancedLearning is sharedConnections are made to prior learning and

experiences Sufficient opportunities to learn are

providedThe teaching–learning relationship is

investigated

Our imagination always outpaces our technology. The gap between the two is the distance the creative spark must jump in order to ignite our forward momentum.

www.jasonohler.com

Integrate Digital Storytelling Integrate Digital Storytelling into your class programme.into your class programme.